The author referred the island of Amsterdam as “'the most beautiful island in the world’. It was because after all the ordeals they had to face in the sea, the island came as a hope for them. It was a small piece of volcanic rock with scanty vegetation. They anchored their ship there and refurbished it.

When the wave walker first set out, the sea was calm and quiet. The first phase of the journey was pleasing. However, on their second day in Cape Town they began to run into strong windstorm which grew worse day by day. On 2^nd January, the waves became massive and it was an ominous sign. A threatening silence was prevailing in the atmosphere. The wind went down and the sky grew dark. It was a small ship and so they tried to manage its speed in the face of those catastrophic waves. The huge waves tossed and crashed on the deck of the ship. The waves rose to great height, vertically. The narrator lost his balance and was knocked down. He hit the wheel and thus fell unconscious. He was thrown in the overboard repetitively due to waves and was injured very badly. His ribs cracked and blood started coming out of his broken teeth. All the members tried to pump out the water but to no avail as the pump got blocked due to the debris. They took the help of second electric pump which was under the chatterbox. They all were injured severely after this incident.

Early morning on January2, the waves were huge and sea was extremely rough. Their ship was hit by strong mighty waves. They slowed down the speed of the boat and double lashed everything. They got ready to face the danger by wearing life jackets and they waited for the worst.

Mrs. Dorling and her daughter were almost similar in their physical feature. They both had a broad back and robust figure.
However, Mrs. Dorling and her daughter were of contrasting character, to certain extent. While Mrs. Dorling was an opportunist and rude person, her daughter was of soft nature. When the narrator went to their house in search of her mother’s belongings, Mrs. Dorling refused to recognize her and shuts the door in her face. It was shameful on her part as she was the narrator’s mother’s acquaintance. However, when the narrator visit the same address for the second time, Mrs. Dorling daughter welcomes her and takes her inside the house. She was much more hospitable and of nice nature.

The writer’s grandmother was a very old woman. She was religious-minded and noble-hearted. In the house, she always carried a rosary in her hands. She kept telling the beads of the rosary and reciting prayers silently. She read holy books in the village temple. She would say her prayers while getting the child ready for school. She used to feed the dogs in the village and the sparrows in the city. She treated the author with the utmost affection. The author was sent abroad for five years for further studies. He thought that this might upset his grandmother, but she did not object and went to the railway station to see him off. When he returned after five years, she was there to welcome him. She was so happy that she collected the women in her neighbourhood and sang songs and beat the drum to celebrate his homecoming.

She was not formally educated. She had no knowledge of English and Science. But she was serious about the education of her grandson. She even helped him with his lessons in the village. But she was disturbed to know that music lessons were being given at the city school. It pained her to note that there was no teaching about God and holy books. She hated music. She belonged to the old generation.

The school is conducting a debate competition on January 28th,2018. the students who r interested can give their names to their respective class teacher. the competition will be conducted from 10 to 12:30 pm. the competition will be held in the school auditorium.

The narrator and his wife plan a voyage around the world just like famous Captain James Cook. They have been preparing and perfecting their seafaring skills for the past 16 years. They get a ship which is 23 meters long and weighs 30 tons wooden-hulled, named Wave Walker. They test it in the rough weather for months.

In July 1976, they all start their journey from Plymouth, England. They sail from Africa to Cape Town which was quite a pleasant journey. Before heading East, the narrator hired two crewmen, Larry Vigil, and Herb Seigler, to help them tackle one of the roughest sea – the Southern Indian Ocean.
They encounter strong and alarming waves during the second day. By December 25, they all manage to reach 35,000 kilometers east of Cape Town. The family, somehow, manages to surpass the bad weather and celebrates Christmas together.

The weather changes for the worse and on January 2, the big waves hit them. They try to slow the ship down by dropping storm jib and hit a heavy mooring rope in a loop across a stern but it doesn’t help much. They carry their life-raft drill, attach lifelines, don life jackets and oilskins.

Later, in the evening, a vertical and huge wave strikes the ship and the narrator is thrown off from the ship. He accepts his ‘approaching death’ and starts losing consciousness. When the ship is about to overturn, a huge wave hit again and turns it right back. He suffers injuries in ribs and mouth. He grabs the guard rail and sails into the ship’s main boom.

He instructs his wife Mary to guard the wheel as he realizes that the ship has water in the lower parts. His crewman starts pumping out the water. The narrator goes to his children’s cabin and checks on them. His daughter, Sue, informs him about a bump on her head which he ignores because his major concern is to save the ship.

The narrator does water-proofing on the gaping holes. This makes water to deviate on the right side. The hand pump gets blocked due to debris and electric-pump gets short-circuited. However, he later finds a spare electric pump and connects it to drain the water. They all keep pumping the water all night long. Their Mayday calls are not answered as they are in the remotest corner of the world.

Sue, on the other hand, has now a swollen black eye and a deep cut in her arm. On being asked by her father about her injuries, she tells him she didn’t want him to worry as he was trying to save them. After 15 hours the situation gets under control. The narrator decides to work in rotation and rests. The water levels are controlled but the leaks were still there, below the waterline.

The ship is in bad shape now. It is not in a condition to reach Australia, and so, they decide to reach the nearest island, lle Amsterdam, a French Scientific base. As their supporting engines were also damaged, the chances of the ship to reach the destination are low.

After pumping the water out continuously for 36 hours, they took a sigh of relief. Only a few centimeters of water was left to be pumped out of the boat. They hoisted the storm jib as the main mast was destroyed. They ate their first meal in two days, some corned beef and crackers. The weather soon started changing and again the black clouds took over by the morning of January 5. His son, Jonathan, told him that he didn’t fear death as long as they were all together. This filled him with determination to fight the sea.

The struggle continued and the narrator tried his best to protect the weakened starboard side. The same evening, the narrator and his wife sat together holding hands, thinking that their end was near. His children continuously supported him which gave him moral support to keep going.

The Wavewalker sailed through the storm and made it. The narrator then calculated their exact position by working on the wind speed. While he was brainstorming, Sue, gave him a card that she had made expressing her love and gratitude towards the family.

He instructed Larry to steer the course to 185 degrees. He said that if they were lucky, they could hope to find an island by 5 pm. He dozed off and suddenly got up around 6 pm. He believed that they didn’t make it and was disappointed. His son came and informed him about how they reached the lle Amsterdam Island and he called him ‘best daddy’ and ‘best captain’.

They reached the island with little struggle and with the help of inhabitants. The whole team, the family and two crew members, never stopped trying. Their struggle and hard work finally saved them.

1. Business Letters: Inquiries and Replies:

Question 1.
Your are Raj/Rani, living at 3, K.B. Road Delhi. You read an advertisement about an online Course in Accountancy. Through Computers, being run by Accounts Experts Institute, Patel Road, Delhi. Write a letter to the advertiser seeking all the relevent information about the course, [NCT 2018]

Answer:
3, K.B. Road
Delhi 1100XX
The Director
Accounts Experts Institute,
Patel Road,
Delhi 1100XX
Dear Sir
Subject: Course in Accountancy

This is with reference to your advertisement on line about the short term course in Accountancy offered by your institute.

Kindly let me know if your institute is recognised by any university. Further, what is the duration and the fee of this course? Please let me know if hard copies of the study material will be available along with the on line subject matter. Also, if there is a contract programme and if so, of what duration.

I shall be extremely thankful for an early response by email or by post.

With best wishes

Yours faithfully
Raj

Q

Mr Frank is a good teacher who understands his students. He is very popular among his students. He has an easy attitude that puts the students at ease. But he encourages the students to talk ill of other teachers and to disobey him which is unethical.

 Nek Chand was made the Director of his creation—'The Rock Gardens'. He was honoured by the Swiss Commission of UNESCO by way of a European exposition of his works. There were interactive shows ‘Realm of Nek Chand’ held at leading museums in Switzerland, Belgium, France and Italy.

Nek Chand was an untrained artist, renowned for his masterpiece sculpted work with stone and recycled material—the Rock Garden of Chandigarh. He was an exponent of raw art which received worldwide recognition.

White space represents the Middle Void where the interaction of Yang and Yin takes place. Man has an important role here. He becomes the conduct of communication between both poles of the universe.

‘Yang’ represents the mountain or the vertical element which is stable, warm, dry and masculine. ‘Yin’ represents the water or the horizontal element that is fluid, moist, cool and feminine. The interaction of Yang and Yin is the fundamental notion of Daoism.

Flemish artist did not draw the dragon’s eye for fear it would come alive; so lifelike was the dragon. Quinten Metsys painted a fly on artists’ canvas — artist swatted it thinking it was a real fly.

'Outsiders art' refers to those art who have no right to be artists as they have received no formal training yet show talent and artistic insight. 'Art brut' or 'raw art' are the works of art in their raw state as regards cultural and artistic influence.

The ‘Middle Void’ is the empty space between ‘Yang’ and ‘Yin’. Their interaction takes place here. It is represented by white unpainted space in Chinese paintings.

An 80-year-old creator-director, Nek Chand from India was the "untutored genius who created a paradise". He made a garden known to the world today as the 'Rock Garden' at Chandigarh. He contributed to outsider art, sculpted stones and used recycled materials.  

Shanshui literally means 'mountain water' that represents 'landscape'. Mountain is Yang, that is stable, warm, dry and reaches vertically towards the heaven. While the water is that is fluid, moist, cool and horizontally resting on earth. Yang is masculine and  Yin is the feminine aspect of universal energy, reflecting the fundamental notion of Daoism.  

The Chinese and the European arts are in direct contrast to each other and represent two contrarian views of art. Western figurative paintings depict scenes exactly as they are, whereas Eastern painters depict inner space—spiritual and conceptual. The European painter wants the viewer to understand his art exactly as he sees it, whereas Chinese painter wants the viewer to use his prudence, enjoy the art and come out with his inference.

Quinten was a blacksmith who wanted to marry a painter’s daughter. The painter did not think he was a suitable match, as he was not an artist. Quinten painted a fly on one of the painter’s canvases. It looked so real that the painter tried to kill it. When he realised that Quinten had painted it, he allowed him to marry his daughter.

Painted Grey ware” was used in which of the following era? Notes: The Painted Grey Ware culture is an Iron Age Indian culture of the western Gangetic plain and the Ghaggar-Hakra valley on the Indian subcontinent, lasting from roughly 1200 BCE to 600 BCE. Grey ware is pottery with a body that fires to grey. This type of pottery can be found in different archaeological sites around the world. ... The technology used for this type of grey ware was similar to the technology used in the grey ware found in east Iranian sites called Emir Grey Ware.

The ominous silence was the first indication of impending disaster. The wind dropped and the sky immediately grew dark. The narrator saw what he thought as an enormous cloud coming towards the ship. With horror he realised that it was not a cloud but a wave like no other he had ever seen. It was almost twice the height of other waves.

The wave hit the boat and wrecked it completely. Water gushed from all sides and the boat started filling with water.

The narrator and his wife wanted to ‘duplicate’ the round—the world voyage made 200 years earlier by Captain James Cook. They had been making formidable preparations for the last 16 years. First of all they got a boat especially designed and professionally built for this purpose. It was a 23 metre, 30 tonne wooden-hulled boat. They tested it for months in the roughest weather. They were both mentally and physically prepared to undertake their exceptionally long and challenging sea-voyage.

The narrator wanted to go on a 'round-the-world' voyage by following captain James Cook's route. He started from Plymouth in England, sailed towards Africa's Cape town and finally set towards Australia. He wanted to repeat the voyage sailed by a sailor, James Crook 200 years ago as he had always dreamed of it. As subsequent events demonstrate, the narrator doesn't know much about how banks work. All he knows is that he gets incredibly nervous whenever he enters one. On this occasion, he visits the bank because he has had a small pay increase and feels that he must deposit the money in the bank.